Welp, believe it or not, the studio has been cleaned from top to bottom, and projects are GO! Last week I fired a batch of tiles and a mug that had been sitting in the greenware state on the drying shelf for 7 months (that has to be some kinda record). I hadn't used my kiln in so long that the vent had seised up with corrosion, and the elements were painfully slow to heat up! Good news is new elements are on their way to me from across the ocean, and I was able to clean and lube the vent to get it back in working order. Annnnnnnd....

The big tiles have begun to take shape! These are the size of 2 of the "standard" VanTiki Tiles - 10"x5" (this is the master sculpt size - they will shrink a bit). I've got 3 designs that I am starting with, and they will be pressed in a limited edition (I'm thinking either 75 or 100 each). Here is the very beginning of BigTile #1

On the right is the sculpting form. The spread of screws in the middle are for the clay to grab onto as I build up the tile sculpt. The wood edges give me a base depth guide for the tile, and I will remove them once the sculpture is nearing completion. On the left you can see the clay prep. I'm using Chavant NSP (Non-Sulphur Plasticine) soft. That "soft" part of the label is relative, as it is actually quite firm (you should see the "hard" clay!). In order to make blocking out the general form of the tile go faster, I cut the clay into cubes with a sturdy clay knife and lots of elbow grease, and then place all the cubes into a bowl under a heat lamp. After an hour or 2, the clay is truly "soft" and ready for sculpting.

Sculpt is humming along nicely. It is BIG - and I'm going to go through A LOT of clay pressing these things! Keep in mind, the sketch is the concept. There are a few small changes on the final sculpt, and the entire piece will have a stone texture (complete with cracks). In fact, I think I'm going to snap a couple of molds off the sculpt, fill the cracks, sculpt a new crack pattern, and snap 2 more molds. This way you can line up a set of the pressed tiles and the cracks won't all be identical. Pics of the sculpt soon -

Mike, I am actually a tad concerned about my ability to press such a large tile. If I'm too scrawny to press them, I'll switch to plan B: old-school rubber mallet. For extra large tiles, folks sometimes press the slab of clay into the mold by hand, cover it with canvas, then pound it in with a rubber mallet (being EXTRA careful not to hit the mold edges). I hope the press can handle it, as the mallet method takes a LOT of time (I used to do that for my smaller tiles before building the press)

Sculpt update! Looks like I am just about ready to begin stone texturing and aging. My favorite part!

I bought a cheap rubber mallet (Harbor Freight) specifically for that purpose but haven't got around to trying it yet.
_________________May we all get to have a chance to ride the fast one
Walk away wiser when we crashed one
Keep hoping that the best one is the last one

I have just come across your thread, WOW! Awesome work! Thanks for sharing some of the steps and the concept drawings. I really like the new Moai tile. What sort of price will they sell for and do you ship to Australia?